A client called me last month with two Sun City listings pulled up side by side, both advertising the same HOA fee, and she wanted to know why one seller's closing disclosure showed a total nearly double the other. That question comes up often enough with active-adult buyers that I've started answering it before anyone asks: in Sun City Georgetown, the HOA number you see in a listing description is rarely the number you'll actually carry, and which one applies to you depends on which few blocks the home sits on.
The Number That's Already Out Of Date
Search for Sun City Georgetown HOA fees and you'll land on a figure that's been repeated across directory sites for years: $1,200 a year. That number isn't fabricated, it's just old. By state law, the association's public management certificate filed with the Texas Real Estate Commission only has to disclose transfer fees, not the current annual assessment, which is why the figure keeps circulating unchecked. Confirmed directly with the Sun City Texas Community Association for 2026, the base assessment is $1,960 a year, payable monthly, quarterly, or annually, and it covers all community amenities except golf.
That's the number for a standard Sun City home. It is not the number for every home.
Which Streets Actually Pay The Extra Fee
Seven specific neighborhoods inside Sun City carry an additional charge on top of the base assessment: Garden Homes in sections NH14A, 24A, 25, and 30, and Cottage Homes in sections NH24B1, 24B2, and 33. These are the community's Landscaped Maintained Home, or LMH, sections, where the association contracts and pays for front-yard upkeep as part of ownership rather than leaving it to the homeowner. The fee for that service is tiered by home size across seven bands, running from $1,266 to $1,740 a year, which puts the all-in cost for an LMH home anywhere from $3,226 to $3,700 annually once the base assessment is added in.
Here's the table a buyer comparing two Sun City listings actually needs:
| Home Type | Annual Base HOA | Additional LMH Fee | Estimated All-In Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard resale (non-LMH section) | $1,960 | None | $1,960 |
| Garden Home or Cottage Home (LMH section) | $1,960 | $1,266 to $1,740 | $3,226 to $3,700 |
One detail worth knowing if you're weighing an LMH home: if the backyard is fenced, the program only covers the front, and the homeowner can either maintain the fenced portion themselves or arrange a separate contract with the association's landscape contractor for an added annual cost. None of this shows up in a Zillow-style listing summary. It shows up on the current resale certificate, which is the document to request before you write an offer, not after.
Two More Numbers That Show Up At The Closing Table
Beyond the annual dues, two one-time charges tend to catch buyers off guard because they never appear in the advertised price of the home.
New construction from Del Webb carries a one-time working capital fee of $650 due at closing, separate from the base HOA assessment. It funds the association's reserves rather than ongoing operations, and it applies once, at purchase, not annually.
Resale buyers face a different one-time cost: the resale certificate itself, the document that discloses the current assessment amount, any pending special charges, and the property's compliance status with the association. Texas law requires this be produced during a transfer, and it comes with a fee, typically ordered by the title company and paid at closing. Confirm the current amount directly with the association's management company rather than assuming it matches what a prior transaction paid.
The Tax Freeze That Isn't In The Sale Price
There's a second number that shifts the real cost of a Sun City home and has nothing to do with the HOA at all. Georgetown ISD's tax rate for 2025-26 is $1.0506 per $100 of assessed value, the largest single line on a typical Williamson County tax bill here. Once a homeowner turns 65 and files the over-65 exemption with the Williamson Central Appraisal District, that school tax amount is frozen at whatever it was the year the exemption was filed. It does not rise again as the home's value climbs, and the City of Georgetown applies a similar freeze on its own portion under a 2004 voter-approved measure.
That means two neighbors in identical homes can carry meaningfully different long-term tax bills depending entirely on when they filed, not on what they paid for the house. It's a detail that never shows up in a median sold price and rarely comes up until a buyer's own closing, which is exactly why it belongs on the list of things to confirm with Williamson CAD before you sign rather than something to look up afterward.
The Line Sun City Doesn't Have
For everything Sun City does add to a closing statement, there's one line many comparable Central Texas communities carry that Sun City doesn't. Per the City of Georgetown's own GIS mapping, no Municipal Utility District or Public Improvement District sits layered over Sun City. Newer master-planned communities across Williamson County frequently carry one or both, adding a separate line to the annual tax bill on top of standard county, city, and school rates. Sun City's total tax picture is comparatively simpler for that reason, though it's still worth confirming the specific homesite's detail with the appraisal district before closing, since boundaries can vary block to block in ways a general community description won't catch.
Why This Math Matters More This Year Than Last
Sun City is nearing the end of an era that's been running since 1996. The community's approved build-out sits at roughly 10,500 homes, and as of 2026 it's at approximately 9,700, putting it around 92 percent complete. The remaining new-construction sections sit on the outer perimeter. Once those sell through, Sun City becomes a resale-only community, and buyers who specifically want a new Del Webb home in the region will need to look toward newer developments like Lost Pines in Bastrop or Veramendi in New Braunfels instead.
For anyone buying resale today, that shift means the fee math above stops being a niche detail and becomes the whole conversation, because resale is about to become the only door into the flagship community. The resale market backs that up: over the 12 months ending in June 2026, 565 Sun City homes closed at a median sold price of $382,000 and an average of $417,044, with a median of 49 days on market and homes closing at 98 percent of list price on average. That's a market with very little room to negotiate after the fact, which is exactly why getting the base-versus-LMH math and the tax-freeze timing right before you compete for a home matters more than trying to fix it once you're under contract.
Before You Write The Offer
A short list worth working through with your agent before you submit:
- Confirm which of the seven LMH neighborhoods, if any, the home sits in, and pull the current tiered fee for that specific size band.
- Request the current resale certificate rather than relying on a fee quoted in the listing or on a third-party site.
- Ask whether a fenced backyard on an LMH home shifts any maintenance cost back to you.
- If you or a household member is near 65, ask how filing timing affects the school and city tax freeze on that specific parcel.
- Verify MUD or PID status for the exact homesite with Williamson CAD, since community-wide statements don't always hold section by section.
A Few Questions People Ask
Does the extra fee apply to every home in Sun City, or just some sections? Just the seven LMH neighborhoods, Garden Homes NH14A, 24A, 25, and 30, and Cottage Homes NH24B1, 24B2, and 33. Every other section pays the base assessment only.
Can I buy if I'm 50 and my spouse is 55? Sun City requires at least one occupant of the household to be 55 or older at closing, and household members don't have to be married for the home to qualify. Visitors 18 and under can't live in the home full-time but can stay up to 90 days a year, and a surviving spouse under 55 may remain in the home if the qualifying resident passes away.
Is golf included in the HOA dues? No. Golf sits entirely outside the association fee as a separate, optional cost. The community has three courses, Cowan Creek, Legacy Hills, and White Wing, with a new nine-hole short course called The Den expected to open in late 2026.
If you're weighing a resale purchase in Sun City and want the fee math worked out for a specific address before you write an offer, that's exactly the kind of homework Denise Arndt does for every active-adult client in Georgetown. Reach out for a personalized consultation and get the real numbers for the home you're actually considering, not the ones circulating online.
